


Clementine & Louis // 30 Days OTP Challenge

by LizzyOnEdge



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Clouis, Cute, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Idkwhattheirshipnameis, Louisentine, Love, Survival, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 06:54:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 14,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23967196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizzyOnEdge/pseuds/LizzyOnEdge
Summary: Basically what the title says *.*I don't know, if I'm gonna complete this.Updates will most likely be random.Thanks for understanding, hope you'll like it :DI do not own the rights for the list of the challenge, I just found it on the internet!
Relationships: Clementine & Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running), Clementine/Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 54





	1. Day 0: The List

_**30 Days List:** _

  1. Getting lost somewhere
  2. Pet names
  3. Patching each other up
  4. Revealing secrets
  5. Scar worship
  6. Making fun of one another
  7. A death of someone close
  8. Sleeping in
  9. Hugging
  10. Watching each other sleep
  11. Drawing each other
  12. Having a lazy day
  13. In a Fairy Tale
  14. Jealousy
  15. Teaching each other how to do something
  16. Needing each other
  17. If they were childhood friends / being children
  18. One of them is sick
  19. Spoiling one another
  20. Shopping together
  21. Giving each other gifts
  22. Competing
  23. Being old together
  24. Dealing with children
  25. Trying to Seduce one another ;)))
  26. Interacting with family members
  27. Moving in together
  28. Falling in love
  29. Doing chore around the house
  30. Pillow talk




	2. Day 1: Getting lost somewhere or ... Lead the Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's set after the Ending of the Game, but Clementine still got both of her legs.

_**Lead the Way** _

_Clementine's POV_

It's been 6 weeks since Asim found the caravan beyond the save zone. Although the people who lived there, were actually friendly and we established a good trading relationship, we still needed more resources. Food, medicine, preferably something to produce those two things on our own. We found a book about medical science in the library of the academy and Willy, _yes, Willy,_ was more than eager to learn from it. But we still needed a solid source, something like the dairy farm could've been when I was still at the motor inn. If we liked it or not, we couldn't spend the rest of our lives locked up in the school. God knows, how long the building would stand anyways.

That is why Louis and I decided go and explore the further area, beyond the woods. Maybe we would find a village or at least a gas station. I mean, even though the Erickson Boarding School for troubled Youth was supposed to be in the middle of nowhere, the teachers still had to get food and supplies from somewhere.

We had to go deeper into the forest, cause that was the only place we never explored, probably because it was easy to get lost – or to get surprised by Walkers. The problem was: it's been seemingly 5 hours and we still didn't find anything besides, well, trees. Hell, we weren’t even on the pathway anymore. But Louis - the almighty - insisted that he knew exactly where the forest ended. I wonder why, he couldn't have been out here before, Marlon made sure of that.

"You do know we're not on a hunting trip this time right?", I stated in a mocking voice.

He rolled his eyes and put on a smile of triumph.

"Patience, Clem, patience. We're almost there."

I scoffed. I wasn't the one to complain easily, but we've been walking non-stop and my feet started to hurt. Besides that, the sun was about to set and we were miles away from home. We weren’t prepared for a night out in the open at all. Suddenly I saw a light shining through the bushes. An exit!

“See?”, Louis called. “I told you we’re close!”

That’s what he said, but I swear, I’ve never seen a more relieved look on his face. I was about to say something, when my foot got caught in the thorns on the ground and I fell. A wave of pain shot through my leg. Out of frustration, I slammed my fist into the next tree I could reach.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!”, I yelled.

Louis crouched down next to me and helped me to remove the thorns. I sighed. It was so unlike me, to not pay attention to where I was walking, it was upsetting. But Louis didn’t seemed to mind. In fact, after he pulled out the last thorn, he continued to caress my leg in a soothing manner. The feeling of his warm hand, even if the fabric of my jeans was keeping it from touching my skin, worked magic on me. Slowly, I reached forward to take his hand and put it on my cheek instead.

He smiled and leaned in to give me a sweet, but long lasting kiss. Even though, I wouldn’t admit it, I was melting in his arms. His chapped, but still soft lips touching mine, made me forget my surroundings every time. It gave me goosebumps. Wrapping both of my arms around his neck, I pulled him even closer into the kiss. He released my cheek, only to put both of his hands on my back instead and I responded by lightly pushing myself onto him, until I was sitting on his lap.

So here were we now. Making out on the dirty ground, in the middle of a forest. While we were actually supposed to find something to help our group to survive. That’s right. I needed to focus. The group … Supplies … Exploring …

Finally I snapped out of it.

“We should … probably continue”, I mumbled, pulling away from Louis.

He smiled, visibly out of breath, and tucked one of his dreadlocks behind his ear. “Just what I was thinking…”

He was about to kiss me again, but I stopped him, exclaiming: “That’s not what I meant!”

Louis pouted, but helped me to stand up. I turned, to keep walking towards the exit, but cringed as I felt the pain in my foot, this time worse. Dammit, I must’ve twisted it or something.

“Want me to carry you?”, Louis asked with a sly grin and I couldn’t help, but laugh. He was such a dork.

“No thanks, Casanova”, I grinned.

I kept my pace steady and made sure to not put as much pressure on my foot, as we were coming closer and closer to where the light came from. A small glimpse of excitement started to light up in me. What would we find? What will be out there? I truly hoped for a village or even a city. It was kinda nostalgic in its own way. I haven’t felt this excitement since AJ and I arrived at the boarding school. Finally, we reached the last bushes. Eagerly we cut our way free, only to find …

… a field. Not even a cornfield. Just a blank … nothing. I was taken aback. Now, that was disappointing. Unfortunately, Louis had a different opinion.

“Clem, look!”, he exclaimed. “Isn’t that just beautiful? We could use this … er, we could plant stuff and build houses and-”

“We’d need resources for that”, I cut him off. Probably bursting his bubble. How could we build houses, when we needed all the wood we had to keep ourselves warm? Right. We couldn’t. This was a complete and undeniable fail.

“Come on”, Louis argued and pointed on path down the field, which looked like it was used for agriculture a long time ago. “Maybe there’s something at the end of that path.”

Maybe. However, it was getting dark and we needed to go back, or the others would get worried. “Let’s just mark the trees over there and get back for now”, I said and walked up to two big oak trees we passed on our way. I asked Louis to hand me the knife, we brought to secure our way back home, but suddenly he went pale.

“Yeah, uh, about the knife..”, he stuttered. And he didn’t even have to say more, because I knew exactly what had happened. This bastard forgot the knife.

“So, let me get this straight”, I stated. “You, Louis, are telling me, you didn’t mark any of the trees we passed, like you were supposed to do and now we don’t know where we came from?”

I honestly tried to stay calm, as I saw walkers a few miles away on the field, but this dude got the best of me. I mean, he had one job. And now we were basically lost. Again, if I may add.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright”, he said, trying to act like we weren’t doomed. “I got us here, I’ll get us back.”

“You can’t be serious”, I argued. But Louis ignored me and made his way back into the woods. I followed, stunned by his confidence. Then again, it wasn’t _that_ surprising. Maybe I was overreacting. There hasn’t been a herd in days and the forest was perfect for hiding. Also, we had our weapons and _if_ we really had to spend the night out here, we could just climb up the trees. Louis laughed. I must look like I was planning a strategy for a battle, well, I basically was.

“Don’t worry, Clem”, my boyfriend said and smiled confidently.

  
  


“I’ll lead the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... and they were never seen again.  
> Jk
> 
> so, this is my first one shot on here (and the first one I actually finished)  
> I'm not exactly satisfied yet, but I hope you'll like it :)


	3. Day 2: Pet names or ... What I want to call you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clem & Louis share one last conversation before the rescue mission.

_**What I want to call you** _

The morning sun was shining through the ragged green curtains, giving the old music room a hint of peace. Nothing,  besides the banner with “See you on the other side!” written on it, showed that this room had been used as a location for a “last party”. Nothing pointed out the fact, that Clementine and her group might die in the rescue mission they were about to attend. 

Clementine, who woke up early because of another one of her nightmares, quietly closed the door behind her as she examined the room. Last night had been a memory she would forever cherish. When the apocalypse started, the young girl never would’ve thought she would experience something so normal like a party with friends.  Hell, she never even thought she would  _have_ friends. But here she was. 

However, with all the events and the great time at the party she completely forgot her cap in the music room. The curly haired girl took a look around. It was impressive how a more or less clean room, could turn into that much of a mess within a few hours. The rug was drenched  with  water and juice they had found in the basement, papers from the student files were all over the place and Clem was pretty sure the paint on the wall saying “ R aiders  S uck  B alls” was new as well.  But the cap was nowhere to be seen. This was odd, because Clementine was absolutely certain she had placed it on the piano, so it wouldn’t fall off her head when she had danced with Louis. Though the only thing on top of the piano was a thin blanket, to protect it from dirt. Louis must’ve placed it there. The instrument was like his Baby. The girl smiled at the thought of the young survivor. She took a few steps towards the piano, maybe the cap had fallen underneath it, and almost stumbled over a plastic bottle taped to … something else. Mitch’s Masterpiece. 

“ _Who would leave a fucking bomb all by itself in their home?!”,_ she thought, shaking her head. Willy would. Of course. Carefully she picked up their best chance to destroy the people that had taken their friends and placed it on a shelf, so no one would accidentally kick it. 

The cap wasn’t under the piano either.

“Looking for this?”, a voice from behind her asked. Clementine turned around. It was Louis, twisting her cap between his fingers. “I took it with me, so it wouldn’t get lost.” He handed it over to her. As her fingers slightly brushed over his, she remembered how Louis had told her about his past last night. He seemed to have read her thoughts, cause he immediately started scratching his neck in an uncomfortable manner. 

“So…”, he started. “About the things I said last night...” 

“You don’t need to say anything else”, Clementine cut him off. “It changes nothing, Louis.” 

It almost looked like this was, what the young man needed to hear, cause his face lit up abruptly and he looked down, smiling. 

“Right”, he whispered. But it wasn’t like a sarcastic, “I-don’t-believe-you”-right, it was a “I’m-so-happy-I-don’t-know-what-to-say”-right. Louis was unsure of what to say next. He knew, even if he didn’t want to believe it, this could be the last time they saw each other. This was _his_ last chance to tell her everything he wanted to say. But Louis really wasn’t good with words, when it came to expressing his feeling. 

“Look, I-”, he started but interrupted himself. ‘I love you’ is what he wanted to say, but then he thought, was that really appropriate before a battle? Surely it would be too cheesy for Clementine or it would freak her out, give her second thoughts, give _him_ second thoughts. So instead he said:

“I think we should give each other pet names!” 

Well, Clementine obviously didn’t expect that. The girl raised her eyebrows and tried to hide that awkward laughter coming up her throat. 

“Pet … names? Really?”, she asked more than confused. And poor Louis was getting more and more wrapped up in this unintended topic. 

“Yes! Pet names, like sugar, honey, babe-”

“Yeah, don’t call me babe”, Clementine said instinctively. “Clem is just fine, it is a nickname, is that what you want?” 

Louis was disappointed.  It was  _not_ what he wanted, everyone called Clementine ‘Clem’, it wasn’t special. He wanted something, a name, that only he would get to call her. Then again, he felt like Clementine was too incredible for “Honey” or anything similar. He wanted to find a pet name worthy for her. 

“Angel”, he said suddenly. 

“What?”, Clementine stuttered. 

“It’s just-”, Louis laughed a little. “Remember how I told you, that the others hear the music and the jokes, but you look more closely? Well, it’s even more than that. My, actually not only mine but also _our_ world, our society here, has been a very dark place. Because of my past, because of what Marlon made us become, but when you showed up, I don’t know …” 

“When I found you in that car, I was damned. Aside all the wounds and scars, you are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen and further, you showing up made this school and us kids better. Brighter. I’m just- so fucking lucky.. You are my angel, Clem.” 

Clementine didn’t know what to say. She was shocked, she didn’t think Louis had it in him to say … all of this. 

She just nodded, overwhelmed by all the information she just received. Actually she would’ve preferred if he had just said he loved her and got it over with. The young girl decided, that in this case it was better to not say anything. So instead, she gently put a hand on his cheek to kiss him shortly as a ‘thank you’.

“So … what do you want me to call you?”, she asked, smiling. 

“Babe is just fine”, Louis laughed and kissed her forehead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, 
> 
> So this one's corny, but here you go anyways ~


	4. Day 3: Patching each other up or ...Battle Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a fight against Walkers, Clementine struggles to treat a wound on her back. Luckily she got Louis.

_**Battle Scars** _

She slammed the door close behind her, storming into the dorm room hoping no one saw her running. The pain in her back was slowing her down with every second passing. It couldn’t be. Not her. She was careful, she was a survivor. It had been a while, since Clementine fought the Walkers, but that didn’t change the fact that she was an experienced fighter. The 17 year old girl would basically _feel_ the zombies creeping up before she could see them. But this time … they were just too many and of course, when it came to protecting AJ she just stopped thinking rationally, going for a solo attack, when she should and actually _did_ know better than that.

Now this could be it.

Quickly she removed her jeans jacket and white ragged shirt – which was now completely soaked with hers and some walker’s blood on the backside -, showing her coffee brown skin. She traced her fingers down her back, but she couldn’t quite reach the hurting spot. Luckily the closet in her room contained a big mirror, even though the glass was cracked, it would be good enough to examine if there was a bite or not. Clementine turned around and tugged up her black sports bra a bit to get a closer look. A long, bleeding scratch marked her skin from a bit under her lungs until her hips. But that’s all there was. A scratch. Relieved the girl exhaled heavily. It would’ve been a shameful way to die for Clementine. Especially since Lilly had said AJ would tear her down at some point. She wasn’t going to let that happen, ever.

Exhausted she sat down on her bunk bed. When she thought, she had been bitten she immediately started to freak herself out. Not because she was afraid of dying, from a young age on she learned that this could happen sooner than one expected, but because she was scared to let her friends down. They were counting on her to lead things, to make the right decisions, but at the end of the day Clementine was still a kid, who had to grow up way too fast, as well. She started looking through the drawers. In case of an emergency she always kept medicine and band aids in them, but it seemed like AJ had used the last ones when he fell down the watchtower last week.

Suddenly she heard a knock. And before she could put on another shirt, Louis entered the room with bandages and antiseptics in his hands. When he saw Clementine he blushed and turned around quickly.

“Oh! Sorry, uh, I didn’t know you were changing”, he stammered. It wasn’t something he hadn’t seen before, they were living together and besides that, Clementine wouldn’t wear more when she was training either, but still, seeing her like this …

Clementine chuckled at his reaction. He was just too cute in her eyes.

“It’s fine, you can look at me”, she said. That’s what Louis did. As he turned around again, his gaze fell onto the blood drained shirt on the floor. His eyes went wide and he approached his girlfriend, visibly concerned. She understood what he must think and shrugged it off. But that didn’t calm Louis down.

“You’re not … bitten, are you?” He gulped. Clementine shook her head.

“No, thank god, I’m not. It’s just a scratch.”

To prove her point she turned around and gestured at her back. Louis gasped at the more than horrifying sight. The wound was dirty and more then blood leaked out of it, it wasn’t given any chance to close by itself.

“Clem, this is more than a scratch, it’s infected”, Louis exclaimed and examined the wound. Clementine flinched as he touched it. “You’ll have to get stitches.”

The young girl groaned, when he said that. Way too well did she remember the night she had to patch up her arm herself, when she was 11 years old. But she wasn’t stupid enough to ignore a serious infection.

“Can you do it?”, she asked her boyfriend, who seemed not only surprised but shocked that she would trust him with this. “I can teach you how, just … do it now, before the others sees it.” Louis knew too well, that Clementine hated nothing more than showing weakness. She took her role as a leader very seriously. Which was a good thing.

“Alright, okay”, he said. “Let me put some antiseptic on it first.” He opened the small bottle and poured some of the contents on a tissue. Carefully he started to spread the cold liquid on her back and she bit her lip as the piercing pain hit her.

“And this is one more reason, why you shouldn’t go fighting half of a herd by yourself”, Louis mumbled, cringing at the sight of Clementines body twitching in pain. “Believe me, it hurts me just as much as it hurts you.”

And that wasn’t even the worst part. When the wound was cleaned, Clementine reached for the needle and thread on her nightstand and handed them to Louis. She took a deep breath and gave him the most important instructions. “Okay, so this is gonna suck”, she finally admitted. “But you gotta pull through, okay? Just remember, better me being in pain than me being dead, right?” The attempt to lighten up the mood, failed miserably.

“You know, I’d much rather have you being unharmed”, Louis responded, terrified of the idea of stabbing a needle into his girlfriend’s back. Clementine forced herself to smile at him.

“I’m afraid it’s a little too late for that.”

And so with the guidance of the girl, Louis very carefully stitched the wound, making Clementine gasp in agony each time he’d push the needle into her skin. But finally, it was done and he actually did a pretty decent job.

“Thanks”, Clementine mumbled as she was laying in Louis’ arms, exhausted from the stress of trying not to scream. She ran a hand over the freshly sewed scratch and was relieved, that it didn’t hurt as bad anymore. Now it was time to put bandages on it. She measured the size of the wound with her hands, and realized the bandages had to be knotted around her neck, so they would hold. “Um...”, she stated awkwardly. “I suppose I’ll have to take off my bra.” Louis realized what she was aiming at and scratched his neck.

“I suppose so”, he said. “Err, don’t worry, I won’t look.” As a proof, he turned his head away, like he just wanted to look outside the window. Clementine laughed at that.

“Don’t worry”, she answered. “I mean, you _are_ my boyfriend. It’s not like I need to hide myself from you or something.”

She pulled the black fabric over her head, when a sudden wave of insecurity hit her and she despite it all covered her front. She took the bandages from Louis to wrap them around her as far as she could reach. Louis did the rest by tying the ends together. He coughed nervously.

“All done.”

“Great, thanks”, Clementine said honestly. “Listen, I’m sorry I went out there without thinking. I usually don’t do that, but when I saw AJ close to that walker, I-”

“AJ needs you, Clem”, Louis interrupted her. “He needs you alive. _I_ need you alive, okay? Look at this-”, he traced his fingers down her back. “-this isn’t right. You’re the leader. You need to take better care of yourself.”

The girl nodded in agreement and faced the ground. She was ashamed, she felt guilty for making Louis worry.

“But hey”, her boyfriend said this time less seriously. “I know how stubborn you can be, so just know, I’ll always be right here to stab a needle into your back, when you need it!” Clementine laughed at his choice of words. She was well aware of the treasure she had found in him and playfully hit his shoulder. She grinned.

“I would be offended if you didn’t”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3 of the Challenge ~
> 
> I really had fun writing this one, so I hope you'll enjoy reading it ^^
> 
> Also thanks to Prince_Parkgae for correcting my grammar mistakes :D


	5. Day 4: Revealing Secrets or ... Childhood Crimes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis is having nightmares about his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...  
> This one might be a bit dark and it's also longer than I expected it to be, but I hope you'll like it anyways.
> 
> Anyone who played the game probably knows it, but I just wanted to say that I obviously made up all of the events in this chapter and they are not part of the actual character ^^

**_Childhood Crimes_ **

_He was incredibly beautiful. The little boy, not much older than 5, with the white skin, platinum blond hair and the light Grey eyes. He was running around the garden and his smile seemed to make the sun shine even brighter. The whole scenery, with the different colored flowers and_ _the perfectly cut lawn, gave the image a_ _hint_ _of a dream. The chirping of the cute birds in the trees, the distant laughter of the child, trying to catch a butterfly or a caterpillar. It didn’t matter what it was. What mattered, was that the child was pure and happy. A good son. The favorite son. All the while, the image would fade and the lightened up garden would turn into a rainy mess, the child was gone and the trees were bending, like they disagreed with the turn of events. But it was only for the split of a second, after that the peaceful pictures returned._

_Except it wasn’t so peaceful anymore. Something wasn’t right. The boy’s smile started fading bit by bit and he looked concerned, like he was about to cry. The bird’s chirping got louder, like a warning._

_Run. Run. Run. Run. RUN._

_The movements stopped. The trees disappeared. The child was standing in the middle of a field, looking down at the grass._ _Slowly, very slowly he raised his head, exposing a horrific sight. Blood, thick, red blood, was streaming from his eyes like tears, moving down his tiny body until it gave the grass a new color. Suddenly wounds appeared all over his skin, bleeding as well. But the boy didn’t seem in pain. He wasn’t. He was angry. Angry at the person who destroyed his beautiful looks, his future. With furrowed brows and a confident smile, longing for revenge he pointed his finger at the person right in front of him._

And that was when Louis woke up. Drops of sweat were forming on his forehead, as he sat up in his bunk bed. Next to him, peacefully sleeping, lay Clementine, his girlfriend who all the while spent the night next to him. It wasn’t the first night this had happened. Every year around the 7th of August terrible nightmares had been bothering the 19 year old boy. Nightmares about his past. He didn’t want to wake Clementine, so he left the bed and started pacing around the dark and empty halls of the Erickson Boarding School for troubled youth. It was around 3 am in the morning, so no one, besides the watch – which was Asim’s job tonight – was awake.

Louis hands were still shaking and he tried to keep his breath steady and calm. At one point the exhaustion overcame him, to say the least, he had barely slept the past few days due to the same unpleasant cause. He let himself slide down a wall and put his head in his hands. _“It’ll pass, it always does”,_ he reassured himself in his mind. Still … it was driving him crazy.

In the corner of his eye he saw a figure, he nearly thought it was the boy from his nightmares, but when he spun around, there was nothing but the empty hallway. And footsteps from another direction. He turned his head, dreadlocks falling in front of his eyes.

“Louis?”, Clementine asked as she approached her boyfriend, who looked miserable to say at last. “Are you okay?”

Louis couldn’t lie to her, even if he tried. She would notice and he’d feel guilty. So he shook his head, but said nothing. To Clementine that was the weirdest thing as Louis always had something to say, usually it was impossible to shut his mouth. There had to be something seriously wrong with him. The girl walked up to him and pulled him into a hug, assuring him, that he could trust her, though she would never force him to talk about something he didn’t want to talk about.

“It was just a nightmare”, Louis said quietly. “About my brother.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother”, Clementine answered surprised. But Louis never talked much about his family. The only thing she knew was, that his parents had sent him to Erickson’s after he broke up their marriage. Louis shook his head. Suddenly he just … broke down and tears were forming in his eyes.

“Clem”, he whispered. “I’m a monster.”

His girlfriend was taken aback by the words he just said. She continued to caress his head in a soothing manner, using the other hand to wipe his tears away.

“We all are in some way, it’s alright”, she said, thinking the young man was just feeling guilty again about killing the raider-woman. It was a cruel world they lived in.

“No, that’s not what I mean”, he argued. “I’ve… I killed my brother.” Now Clementine was shocked. She had to kill the man that basically adopted her, and that had been hard enough, but killing your own brother. That was something else. She was about to say something, when Louis continued.  
“It was before the outbreak. Way before …”

The girl decided it was for the best to just let him talk for now. He clearly needed to get that off of him. Louis just stared into the distance, seeing the memory, like it had happened only yesterday. The 7 th  of August, one year before the outbreak.

He had been eight years old, three years older than his brother, Jayden. Jayden had been diagnosed with a rare skin disease, albinism. His skin was white as was his hair and his eyes were silver like. He was a handsome little boy, adored by his parents and the rest of the neighborhood. A good and always smiling kid. And no one had known that better than Jayden did himself and he took every opportunity to rub it in his brother’s face. Well, Louis struggled to keep up. All he was good at, was music. And his parents never really supported that. So while he was scolded over and over again, his little brother got anything he wanted.

“I was _so_ jealous of him. And that little brat knew that. In front of mom and dad he’d be the dream of a son, but when we were alone, he’d push me around like he was some kind of prince. Which he was to our parents”, Louis mumbled. “Then, one day, we were playing in our giant garden and it was actually fine. We were chasing each other, laughing. But then when I got him, I accidentally pushed him too hard and he fell, started crying. And I was like: ‘oh, come on, you’re not a baby anymore, are you?’ and he just said: ‘and that’s why Mommy and Daddy hate you.’ And I was just … shocked. I mean, I always thought they didn’t like me as much as they loved Jay, but when he actually said it, it hurt. And I kicked him and he got up and started running again. We were living in a villa near the cost, so we always had to be careful we didn’t get near the cliffs, even if they weren’t that high. However, Jayden was running further and further and I was close behind him. When he was standing at the edge of the cliff, he stopped, actually smirking at me.”

“ _Come on, Lou, push me!”, the little boy giggled. He knew well how to push the buttons of brother, but he was sure that he would never actually consider hurting him. Little Louis stood about 3 feet away from him, eyes wide in fear Jayden would fall. Despite it all and even though he wouldn’t admit it, he adored and loved his brother as well._

“ _This sucks”, he said. “Let’s just go home.”_

_Jayden shook his head furiously. “Don’t want to.”_

_He took another step back, testing the nerves of the older boy._

“ _You know, I heard Mommy say, you were a mistake. Lazy and dumb, what does she mean by that, Lou?”, Jayden knew exactly what his Mommy would’ve meant by that, if she had actually said such thing, which she didn’t._

_Louis had heard enough. He was ready to tackle his little brother, but he reminded himself that they were on a cliff. So he ju st smirked. Lying was something he was good at as well._

“ _Well, I heard the neighbors say, you were a mistake. That Daddy isn’t really your Daddy and that’s why you’re white.”_

_Of course Jayden was too little to fully understand, what his disease actually was, but he knew he didn’t look similar to Louis, or his parents for that matter. However, he was also too small to think about any dangers in his place, so he tried to tackle Louis. But before that could happen, he slipped._

“He fell down”, Louis whispered. “Down there were these pointy rocks and he fell right into them. His small body was covered in wounds. He must've been dead at the spot, but I didn’t do anything. I just went home and told my parents that Jayden went to see our Neighbor’s kid. They found him hours later.”

Clementine was more than shocked. No one could possibly expect such a story. She stopped caressing Louis for a bit and he immediately let his head fall into his arms.

“Told you, I’m a monster”, he said bitterly. But Clementine just hugged him tight.

“No, you’re not”, she assured him. “You were a little boy, traumatized by his brother’s death. You have nothing to blame yourself for.”

Now Louis actually started to cry. He didn’t want her to see him like that, but then again he was relieved. Relieved she didn’t turn away from him, relieved by hearing the words he had always needed to hear. It wasn’t his fault. He wanted to believe that. And he was absolutely certain, that Clementine could help him to live with his guilt he kept hidden behind jokes and music. Clementine held him until he was ready to return to their dorm,

and eventually, the nightmares vanished.


	6. Day 5: Scar worship or ... The power of love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine feels defeated after losing her leg.

_**The Power of Love** _

_Clementine's POV_

Two weeks and a half had passed since Tenn died and AJ saved my life by chopping off my leg. I still couldn’t believe that my little boy actually made a big decision on his own, instead of just listening to me. I was glad as well, I mean, if it wasn’t for AJ – as well as Ruby and Omar who fixed up the wound, when we arrived back at the school – I’d be dead right now. Instead I was still here, recovering in the infirmary of the Erickson Boarding School. Still, I barely slept. My leg – or, the rest of it – was better, the wound hadn’t opened in days, so that was a good sign, yet I couldn’t help but think what would become of me. How could I help the group now, when I wasn’t even able to get up? I was a burden to all of them. Another mouth to feed, unable to defend the community. Worst of all: I couldn’t even protect AJ anymore.

A knock on the door interrupted my depressing thoughts. Behind the door, Louis was asking if I was awake.

“Come in”, I called in a raw voice. Louis entered the room with a bottle of water and a pudding in his hands. The pudding actually lifted my mood a bit. God, I hadn’t eaten pudding since maybe Richmond!

“Omar raided the storage room of the ship before we escaped”, Louis said, smiling. “Thought you might want one.”

I returned the smile genuinely and nearly snatched the pudding out of his hands. It was vanilla flavored. Nothing special, but still the most exquisite kind of food I had tasted in weeks.

“How’re you feeling, Clem?”, Louis asked concerned.

“Like a pirate”, I replied sarcastically. It was no use to complain to Louis, he would only be more worried. I mean, he obviously knew my condition. It sucked! Why point it out even more? Just as I was about to roll my eyes and complain anyways, I noticed the look on his face. It was the same look he wore, when I got back, right before I collapsed. It was a look of concern, pain, … guilt. I couldn’t stand it, so I took his hand in mine and gave him a small smile.   
“I’m alive, I’ll be fine.” _Just useless._

However Louis seemed to read my thoughts, cause he just squeezed my hand and mumbled:

“You don’t look so fine.”

I avoided meeting his eyes, he was more than right. But I couldn’t break down in front of him. I uttered a bitter laugh.

“You know, I had a friend a few years ago – she was kinda weird – and she used to tell me that I had beautiful legs and now they’re just-”

“Still beautiful”, Louis interrupted. _Liar._ Carefully he released my hand and started caressing down my thigh, but I abruptly stopped him. He seemed taken aback, but took his hands off me immediately. “Can I … see it?”

 _No_. Well, actually, maybe yes. I refused to look at it myself for weeks. It made me uncomfortable, it _felt_ uncomfortable enough. Which was kinda weird, I was never the one to be self-conscious about my appearance, I mean first of all, in an apocalypse you kinda have more important problems to solve and second of all, judge my ego but I completely liked the way I looked. Until now.

“I don’t know”, I whispered. “It’s ugly.”

“Nonsense”, he argued and looked at me fiercely, like he was ready to throw it down with me if I called anything about me ugly ever again, and eventually I gave in and tugged the blanket back. The stump was covered in freshly changed bandages, it seemed to heal very well. Louis softly touched my leg above the amputation, perhaps he was too scared to hurt me. I knew it was an unusual sight. The wound however wasn’t as messed up as it was when AJ brought me back – yeah, AJ most likely wouldn’t become a surgeon when he was older. Anyways, Louis… he leaned down to kiss the bandages. I was taken aback. A bit shocked, cause, who would kiss a nasty amputation?!

“What are you doing?”, I almost exclaimed.

“Showing you that this doesn’t creep me out”, Louis grinned. “You’re still beautiful and as awesome as always. This just proves that you survived.”  
I said nothing for a moment. I was moved by his actions and I wished I could believe him, but- _“I’d rather be dead, than useless.”_

“Don’t you ever say that”, he snapped, before I could realize I just blurted out my thoughts. “If you died that day, I don’t know what would’ve become of me. You’re not useless, Clementine. We need your guidance, your tactics, _you._ You don’t have to fight to be a part of this group and you just being here helps me a lot.”

“And besides that, you’re not just our leader, Clem. You’re our friend, _my_ girlfriend and nothing will ever change the fact that we all love you and support you no matter what. I’d lose both of my hands for you, if that’d mean you’d be by my side.”

Okay, now I was crying. I never cried, so it must’ve been the painkillers, obviously, because I’m not that type of girl that cries, because of something cute her boyfriend said, right? Right. He continued to plant little kisses all over my leg, which made the butterflies in my tummy go crazy. I calmed down and ran my hands through his hair, while he was still caressing the scar.

“How does this not freak you out?”, I mumbled exhausted and so goddamn happy I had this man in my life. Louis shrugged and smiled with his eyes closed and his head on my tummy.

“The power of love”, he maybe only half-joked. “And by the way, being a pirate during apocalypse sounds pretty epic to me. Keep that up.”

I laughed. “Maybe Violet and I make a show out of it.”

We stayed silent after that for a bit, appreciating the company of each other, until …

“Clem?”, Louis whispered, nearly asleep.

“Hm?”

“I’m glad that AJ chopped off your leg.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno what to think about this one.  
> Originally published a version I strongly disliked, but here it is in Clem's POV.
> 
> Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes ^^


	7. Day 6: Making fun of each other or ... Happy Birthday, AJ!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine and Louis prepare everything for a surprise party.

_**Happy Birthday AJ!** _

They all had been waiting for this day to come. Especially AJ, because well … it was _his_ day. Alvin Junior’s 8th Birthday was going to be amazing and for that to happen Clementine and Louis decided to surprise the youngest of the group with a surprise party in their party room. So at 4:30 in the morning, Louis dusted the shelves and the piano, while Clementine decorated them. As AJ loved banners (as well as swearing), she made sure the whole room was covered with signs saying things like: “Happy-fucking-Birthday!” or “To another year with our favorite Shitbird!”. They even set up balloons for him.

The gramophone was playing rhythmic Jazz music and Louis hummed along to it. For once it was a relaxing, undramatic moment they shared, which was rare these days. With the herds coming and going they hardly got any peace at the school. However, finding a present for AJ was rather difficult these days, but Clementine decided it was time to give AJ what belonged to him anyways: his father Alvin’s jacket. Before he died he gave it to her, saying he’d want his child to have something of him like Clem had the cap. And as AJ was eight now, the same age she was, when she left her home to go with Lee, she thought he should have it, even if it didn’t fit him yet. Meanwhile Louis chose to give AJ a self-carved knife, designed with the comic character Disco-Broccoli as the handle. Clementine thought it was hilarious, but AJ would definitely like it. Omar, in the kitchen was baking a small Birthday cake for the young boy, and was told to bring it to the room, before the younger one’s woke up. So, basically everything was perfectly planned.

Louis was one step ahead, he finished cleaning the room way faster than expected. But he wouldn’t tell Clementine, as he found something better to do. In one drawer he had found colorful garlands, which had been used on a student’s birthday, or when he was about to leave the school, because he got “better”. Louis took some of the garlands and sneaked up behind Clementine. Only to throw them around her shoulders and neck. Unfortunately, he underestimated his girlfriend’s defense mechanism, as she immediately spun around to kick him right into his stomach, which made him fall.

“Ow! What the fuck?!”, he groaned. At least Clementine was surprised, he reached his goal. She looked down at him, trying hard not to laugh. Even though he must’ve been in pain, he clearly was being overly dramatic as well. Letting his head fall back in “agony” and looking up to the sky. The girl shook her head at him.

“For real, Louis, how long do you know me now?”, she challenged him.

“For two years”, he replied without thinking. “Yet still I forgot how relentless you can be.”

She snorted. Relentless. She could show him relentless. But instead she picked up the garlands and tossed them back at Louis. Two could play a game. But he only clapped.

“Wow, you’re sooo bad-ass!”, he sneered and picked up a pillow from behind him, only to smash it right into Clementine’s face. Soon there was a major fight going on, where both of them threw anything they could find at each other, completely ruining the effort they had put into cleaning the room.

In the end, they were so exhausted. Clementines hair was sticking into every direction but the right one and Louis, well, it seemed like all the dust he had removed was now on his own clothes. Still he was laughing his ass off at the sight of his girlfriend.

“You look like a singer of a band, who hasn’t chosen yet if he wants to be from the 90s or the 70s!”, he giggled and Clementine rolled her eyes, but smirked.

“Well, at least _I_ don’t look like a forgotten ghost from the basement”, she countered. Shocked Louis looked down at himself, brushing off some of the dirt from his shoulders … and smearing it onto Clementine, who in return, rubbed the balloon over his head, so his dreadlocks looked like they had grown branches. But Louis just grinned, taking Clem’s hand forcefully.

“What are you doing?”, she asked confused, then she realized he was trying to shock her by making her touch his hair. “No-, Louis, please-”

“Payback’s a bitch”, he said in a honeyed voice and put her hands on one of his strands. Abruptly Clementine was stung by a small electric shock and while she was rubbing her hand, Louis broke into a gleeful laughter. “See that? There are definitely sparks between us.”

Clementine boxed him in the arm. “I love you, too.”

Suddenly it knocked and Omar entered the room with a – not as small as he promised – cake in his hands.

“Hey, Clem, what was AJ’s favorite-”, before he could finish his sentence he stumbled over a floor lamp, who was laying in the way, and the cake – the beautiful, tasty looking cake – clashed onto the floor, almost in slow motion.

For a minute it was silent. Omar was looking at the cake, expressionless. Clementine and Louis looked at Omar, concerned. Then it all broke down.

“You were supposed to clean this mess up! Have you got _any_ idea on how long I worked on this cake?”, Omar started yelling. And he kept yelling, cursing, which usually wasn’t his ways at all, but when it came to his cooking or baking, they had to watch out. And no matter how entertaining Omar’s red anger face was, at one point Louis just had enough.

He grabbed a handful of the ruined chocolate cake and stuffed it right into Omar’s wide opened mouth. Clementine was sobbing from laughter at the sight, at least until she too got some chocolate in her face. Soon all three of them were covered in pie. Louis mischievously started kissing down Clementine’s cheek to steal some of the chocolate in the most sweetest way. Clementine tried to sweep him away, but her giggling gave away, that she wasn’t all too bothered by his actions. Omar just rolled his eyes. Suddenly a voice made all of them stop their actions.

“What are you doing?”, little AJ was standing in the doorway, examining the chaos confused. “Uh”, Clementine stuttered. “Happy Birthday, Goofball!”

AJ looked at her, then at the room, then at the cake. He approached it and took a handful of the chocolate dough, only to stuff it in his own mouth.

“Wow, this cake is awesome!”, he exclaimed, completely ignoring the rest of the scenery.

In the end, he hadn’t expected anything else from them anyways.


	8. Day 7: Death of someone close, or ... Saying Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis is devastated, after the death of one of his best friends.

_**Saying Goodbye** _

There had been just too many. Too many walkers for one single person to handle, the herd appeared out of nowhere. No one could’ve seen them coming and just as suddenly as they showed up, they were gone again. And she disappeared with them. Violet … she had saved them all. Closing one by one every hole in the fence, where walkers could’ve gotten through, while the rest of the students tried their best to keep them away. It was an unusual big herd, surrounding the whole school. And no one knew, who’s mistake was, if someone didn’t pay enough attention or if Violet just didn’t see the walker sneaking up to her from behind due to her bad sight, but in the end none of that mattered. She was bitten in the back before anyone could save her.

However, Violet wasn’t the person to silently suffer until they eventually died and came back, no, as soon as the fight was over and the others realized what had happened, she had turned to Clementine. “This is not your fault”, she had said, knowing that Clementine would blame herself, as she was the leader. “And I’m asking you this, fully aware of what I’m asking, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to do this. I trust you with my life and that’s why I want you to end it.”

And that’s what Clementine did. After Violet had said her goodbyes to everyone, Clementine had shot her in the head. It had been hard. But she knew very well, that Violet made her choice and no one had a right to take her last choice away.

Today they had properly buried her. For that Ruby and Clementine had dressed her up in her favorite clothes, covered up the wounds and scars and cleaned her. Violet looked like she was sleeping, when they had put her in the coffin. No sign of the apocalypse or her tragic way of dying. At the funeral everyone said a few words about Violet. Everyone except Louis. He wasn’t there. In fact, Clementine hadn’t seen him all day. He had returned to his room, right after he and Violet said their last goodbyes. She decided to look for him after the funeral ended.

Uncertain she stood in front of his door. She knocked, but Louis didn’t answer. She could just enter the room, but maybe she should give him some privacy. In the end, he lost one of his best friends. For the second time in his life. Still, she chose to open the door just enough to peak inside and see, if he was okay.

Louis sat there. On the window seat with a single piece of paper in his hands. His face was blank, he looked like he was in some kind of trance. God knows how long he’d been sitting there. Clementine couldn’t help but to go inside.

“Louis?”, she asked softly. No reaction. She wasn’t even sure if he heard her. She came closer and closer, until she was able to see what he was looking at. It was a photograph. A young Louis was grinning brightly into the camera, each of his arms tossed around the shoulders of an equally young Marlon and Violet. She understood how he must feel. He had lost the people closest to him, like she had lost Lee and later on Kenny and Luke. Except he grew with these kids. They were his friends, even before the outbreak.

“Why did this have to happen?”, Louis said quietly. “First, Marlon turned into a fucking kid-selling psychopath and then Tenn basically killed himself and now Vi… I just don’t get it, Clem, what have we become?”

Clementine couldn’t answer that. She knew better than anyone else, that this world like it was now changed people, making them show their true natures for the better or for the worse. There was nothing to make this situation look any less messed up. She tried to pull him into a hug, but he flinched.

“Couldn’t we have just cut the infected spot out somehow? Like they did with that raider’s arm!”

“It doesn’t work like that”, Clementine whispered, but Louis knew that already. But he didn’t want to see it. Yet again he felt so helpless in this world. Maybe if he would’ve watched out better, he could’ve shot the walker before it got to her.

“She was way too precious for an ending like that”, he croaked, tears forming in his eyes. He wanted to explain to Clementine why he hadn’t said goodbye to his best friend, it was because he wasn’t _ready_ to say goodbye just yet. Saying goodbye to Violet meant admitting that yet another thing of his previous life was gone and he would never get it back. Clementine just nodded. Suddenly Louis realized, that not only he had lost Violet. Looking at Clementine’s grief-struck face, he saw that she had been pulling herself together as well. Furthermore, she was the one that had to pull the trigger, release Violet, kill their own living friend.

“You can hug me now”, he mumbled, smiling sadly. Clementine returned the smile and let herself fall into his arms, caressing his head. In that very moment, Louis felt sick of being the “weaker” one in this relationship. Clementine killed the walkers, Clementine was the boss of the group, Clementine made the big decisions on her own. It just didn’t seem right. She was still his girlfriend, the one thing he had left and despite how relieved he was, that she could protect herself, now and then _he_ wanted to be the one to protect her. By now, Louis couldn’t even bear thinking of losing her too. He just couldn’t.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you”, he said honestly and pressed her closer to his chest.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t here to look after you either”, Clementine replied quietly. For a few minutes they just stood there in silence, holding each other tightly, like they were the only people that meant something. Until Louis decided he was ready to say goodbye now. As they went outside, no one close by would look at them. Not in a rude way, they just wanted to give them the privacy they deserved. Louis examined the grave carefully, though one thing stuck out immediately.

“Did it have to be violets?”, he joked bitterly, looking at the decorating flowers. Clementine laughed lightly.

“They were the most fitting flowers we could find”, she explained.

“I can’t see why.”

After that, Louis said nothing. He didn’t see a point in saying anything about Violet out loud, as he figured if she watched over him, she would know what he was thinking. She would never forget her. And once his time came, they’d be together again. Along with Tenn and Minnie and Sophie and all the other’s, like they had been before all of this started. And he hoped that she and Minnie could find a way to make up. He hoped, wherever Violet was now, she’d be happy.

Clementine took his hand in a soothing manner, not really knowing what she could do for him. Little did she know, she had already done more than enough.

“I love you, Clementine”, Louis said in a clear voice without looking at her. Life was cruel, he couldn’t waste anymore opportunities. Clementine got that.

“I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As school is starting again, idk if I'll be able to update everyday, hope you'll understand ~ 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one shot, it really hurt me to write it >.<


	9. Day 8: Sleeping in or ... Duty call, no answer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine overslept, so Louis took over her lookout duty, only to return to her afterwards.

**_Duty calls, no answer._ **

It was a situation that never happened before. Louis actually took over Clementines watching shift, because she just slept in. Who could blame her, to say the least it had been an incredibly exhausting day for yesterday. Still, it was unlikely for Clem to oversleep, so Louis was worried she pushed herself to hard, therefore he decided to take over. Now, after a two hour watch, he returned to the dorms, letting Willy and AJ take on. It was about 8 am and Clementine was still fast asleep, snoring softly. Louis thought it was the cutest thing he’d ever seen. He would’ve loved to take a picture, but it didn’t matter, as he would keep this image locked in his head and heart forever. Slowly, he closed the door behind him and climbed over his girlfriend on the other very small half of the bed to get somewhat comfortable himself. Unfortunately Clementine still woke up, at least she opened her eyes a bit, and while she got used to the morning light, she suddenly realized she had forgotten about something.

“Louis”, she grumbled. “Why didn’t you wake me up? I’m on lookout duty.” She was about to force herself out of the bed when Louis grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back to him.

“No, no, no, no. You’re not leaving me here, at least I did your lookout, right?”, he smiled slightly. “Instead we can stay here a little longer, or what do you think?”

Clementine really woke up now. She couldn’t believe Louis didn’t wake her, in the end it had been her duty. And not following it as the leader was a major mistake. Even if Louis had meant it well. With a jolt, she jumped out of the bed, but collapsed right back into it, when she felt the exhaustion of yesterday overcome her.

“See”, Louis mumbled, with his eyes closed again. “You’re body wants to stay here too.”

“Shush”, Clementine responded annoyed. He wasn’t wrong though. Not only was she feeling tired, but her whole body was cold as ice. Her fingers were freezing. No surprise, with the cold winter storms hitting the not so stable windows. Speaking of which, in that very moment it began to pour again outside. Which made the whole scenery even more comfortable, and also made it harder for Clementine to stay awake.

“Poor AJ”, Louis said, looking out the window.

“AJ loves rain, he’ll be alright”, Clementine answered, while Louis started to draw circles on her back.

“You’re tense”, he stated. “Want a massage?”

“You’d do that?”, Clementine asked surprised. Louis grinned proudly.

“No one is better at giving massages than me!”, he said confidently. Well, Clementine would be the one to judge. She lay down on her belly, tugging up her shirt a bit, to reveal her with bruises decorated backside. Louis started caressing it carefully, making sure his hands weren’t too cold. All the while his hand would trace up and he would fondle her hair, but then it’d go right back focusing on her sensitive skin.

“You like that?”, he asked quietly, on which Clementine just nodded. His hands worked magic on her body, it seemed like she was already way less tense. Louis continued by imitating raindrops on her back, by knocking his finger tips quick and lightly all over her back. It felt amazing. After he’d done this for a while, he started rubbing the back again, occasionally planting little, sweet kisses on it. Clementine thought she had never felt so loved. At least not as long as she could remember. It was those moments in life that made this hell of a situation still worth living through. Louis would continue his small, adorable gesture, while they were talking about really anything. About the school, about the people they cared about, about happy events of their pasts, everything, everything but bad memories or walkers. After a while she was fully satisfied with his massage, so they just continued to lay in each other’s arms, talking (or maybe more sleep talking).

However everything was good in that moment. Clementine was laying in her bed at almost noon in the embrace of her one true love, enjoying every single second with a slight smile on her lips. She caressed the arms he had put around her from behind, relishing his steady breath on her ear. His whole presence was incredibly calming for her, it made her realize once more, why she loved him so much.

So that was fine, until a rain drenched AJ entered the room without knocking and decided to join the two of them. Louis and Clementine forced themselves to get up and dressed, planning to join the others on the yard.

“We should sleep in more often”, Louis grinned on their way and Clementine completely agreed.

In the end, how should they protect the others without enough sleep for themselves? He caressed and kissed her cheek one last time, before the daily life hit them again, cause they both knew: the time they could spend together was rare and special, so they should enjoy every moment of it. Even if they were asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, not much context or speech, not my favorite topic,   
> but at least existent :D  
> Hope you'll enjoy


	10. Day 9: Hugging or ... The responsibility of a Leader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine feels pressured by her new role in the group.

_**The responsibility of a Leader** _

“Okay, the herd will most likely be here in 3 days. James said he’d try to distract them, to catch some of them-”

“Why would he catch some of them?”, Mitch interrupted Clementine, who was preparing the group for the upcoming danger. She had been back for three weeks now and after AJ was getting better and the others forgave them for killing Marlon, she had more or less forcibly been appointed as the new leader.

“Uh”, Clementine stated, not wanting to spill her new friend's secret to the others. “It’s just his thing … for training or something.” Mitch seemed to be satisfied with that answer and shrugged.

“As I was saying”, the young girl continued. “James will take care of some of them, but there will still be a lot that reach the school. If they come, we must be prepared. Collect all the ammo and supplies you can find. That’s all for now.”

With that she ended the daily meeting and sighed. On one hand she felt honored the others not only forgave her, but even trusted her enough to keep this school safe. But that was one hell of a responsibility, on the other hand. Lost in her thoughts, Clementine left the meeting room to talk a walk, but before she could walk outside, she ran into Louis.

“What’s up”, he greeted her. “Ready for the meeting?”

“You just missed it”, Clementine said.

Louis had been the last to forgive her. It had been hard for him, at least Marlon had been his best friend. Still, he hadn’t been blind to the mistakes the former leader obviously made. However, once he saw AJ badly injured, he had remembered the hope that Clementine and AJ brought into the school when they first showed up. He couldn’t abandon them another time – and that wasn’t because of his little crush on Clementine obviously. The group just needed them, that was all.

“Oh, man, Clem, I’m sorry”, he stumbled over his words, but Clementine just shrugged it off.

“It wasn’t _that_ important”, she assured him and continued moving. At the moment, she just didn’t want to talk. She had a lot of things going on in her mind and needed to figure them out in time, before the herd reached the school, or another issue would come up.

Louis wouldn’t let himself be ignored though and took a step fin front of her to block her way. He looked at Clementine, concerned.

“Okay”, he started. “What’s wrong?”

Clementine was surprised, even though Louis had forgiven her, things had been distant between them. Like, a friendly relationship, but … different. The occasionally flirt attempts, Louis used to make stopped and secretly, Clementine thought it was a shame. When she and AJ were forced to leave, the look on Louis face, or to be exact, the non-existent look on his face, he wouldn’t even look at her, she had thought, this was it. And now here he was, concerned about her well-being.

Still, that didn’t mean she would just pour her heart out to him. Her pride wouldn’t let her.

“Nothing.”

Clementine bit her lip. Lying has never been one of her strengths – and lying to people she cared about, bothered her even more, but she figured, if Louis kept his distance, so would she. There was no way, she would let herself get hurt by him or anyone in this school for that matter. She couldn’t afford it, in the end she had AJ to care for and the group to keep save. She couldn’t let her feelings get involved in this.

Louis on the other hand, noticed her troubled face, but was unsure of what to do. Could he really insist on her telling him about what bothered her, after he’d basically ignored her? But maybe this was his chance to stop these awkward vibes between them.

“You can tell me, you know”, he said nervously. “obviously something bother’s you, I wasn’t at the meeting, but maybe I can help you here and now.”

Clementine sighed. “I’m just a bit stressed, nothing serious.”

Louis raised his eyebrows, expecting more than what she said. She was unable to resist the opportunity to make a real conversation with Louis, even if it was just about her insecurities about being the leader. “They’re all depending on me”, she vaguely continued. “For years it has always been just AJ and me and now there’s a whole group of kids, who put their lives in my hands. I mean, I haven’t met people my age since I was 14 and now you all expect me to just do the right thing, that’s a lot you know? And, I don’t even get it. We messed up once, even if Marlon did bad things, we _killed_ him and-”

Her waterfall of hidden thoughts was cut off, when Louis took two quick steps forward and wrapped his arms around Clementine.He had wanted to do this ever since she came back, no, ever since he had met her and now, with her being all overwhelmed, he felt like it was the right thing to do.

But of course he didn’t know for sure.

“Sorry, uh, is this okay?”, he stuttered, not letting go of the girl.

Clementine just smiled, like this was what she had needed all along. But she kept the smile hidden in Louis’ shoulder, putting her hands on his back.

“Yes, yes it’s okay”, she said contently.

For a moment the two of them just stood there, in each others embrace, without any care in the world, before they let go of another slowly.

“Does this mean we’re… you know, friends again?”, Louis questioned awkwardly. Friends, right. Clementine felt like she was just punched in the face, but she kept her cool and smirked.

“So that means I can consider myself friendzoned, huh?”

Louis turned bright red.

“That’s- no, of course not! I mean, uh-” Clementine started laughing.

“I’m joking, Louis, I’m joking!” That was only half-true. But she wouldn’t risk this. She put on a genuine smile, relieved, now that she actually had him back by her side.

“I’d love to have you as my friend again”, she said.

“By the way, can you give me another hug?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!
> 
> And I actually wasn't half asleep when I wrote this one, but yeah, I'll try to update more regulary.
> 
> Hope you like this one, it's fluffy ^^


	11. Day 10: Watching each other sleep or ... Not then. Not now. Not ever.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis can't sleep after a long day, so he watches Clementine, who isn't so relaxed either.

Not then. Not now. Not ever.

It has been a long day for the survival group. They finally had found a source for supplies and food and everything, but it was far from the school and it had taken them hours until they collected and stored all of the stuff. They had to drive there multiple times, fought against walkers, until finally, in the late evening they were able to call it a night.

Anyways, Louis couldn’t sleep. He didn’t know why, maybe it was the stress during the fight or the worrying about his friends and the community. However, it was 3 am in the morning and Louis was wide awake. At least he wasn’t alone, Clementine was laying next to him, like she often did the past few weeks.

The young survivor thought about getting out of the room, so he wouldn’t accidentally wake her, but the second he looked down at his sleeping girlfriend he just couldn’t turn away. She was just incredibly adorable, with her eyes squeezed shut and her curly hair all over the place. It was rare seeing Clementine without the hat, she had gotten from her dad when she was little, and she looked like a completely different person. Asleep she didn’t seem as fierce as usual. Of course, she was relaxed, actually peaceful. Louis thought it was a beautiful sight. He knew how hard the girl tried day after day, to keep the rest of them save and sound. Now here she was, letting go of all the pressure into her hopefully sweet dreams.

Louis giggled quietly, as a little bit of drool dripped from the corner of her mouth. If Clementine knew he was watching, she would surely kill him. But he didn’t care. He just continued examining every single feature of her sleeping face, thinking to himself how grateful he was to have her.

But suddenly Clementines expression changed. Her face scrunched up in distress and she clenched her hands into fists, like she was about to punch someone. And Louis saw something, he had never seen before: Clementine was crying. She whimpered softly, like she was helplessly trying to defend herself against something only she could see and little tears were running down from her lashes.

Louis was troubled. Should he wake her up? She didn’t seem well, but maybe she’d be even more confused if he woke her up. He didn’t need to think about that further, as Clementine suddenly kicked the blanket off the bed and forced her eyes to open. She wasn’t fully awake yet though, Louis noticed that.

With shock in her eyes, the girl just starred at the ceiling, breathing heavily. She has had a nightmare once again – and each time they seemed to be getting worse. Clementine gulped before she blinked a few times and sat up, looking down, right into the concerned face of her boyfriend.

“O-oh”, she stuttered. “You’re awake.” Immediately, she turned away, so he wouldn’t see how stressed out she actually was.

“Yeah”, Louis responded and sat up as well. “I couldn’t sleep, but you okay? Seemed like you had a nightmare or something?”

“I’m fine”, Clementine mumbled, turning back towards the boy. He gave her a small, comforting smile and started massaging her shoulder slightly with one hand.

“Care to tell me what it was about?”, he asked.

The girl shrugged. If he insisted she would tell him, she’d never lie or keep a secret from the boy she loved. However it was a difficult topic.

“It’s just-”, she started. “I was dreaming about the morning AJ and I came back to the school, after you guys had voted us out. When AJ got shot.”

“So you were worried about AJ, that’s a totally legitimate nightmare. I get similar ones too.”

Clementine shook her head. “It wasn’t about AJ this time”, she admitted. “It was more about … well, you.”

“Me?”, Louis acted shocked. “What did I do, to be the main character of your nightmare?”

“Well, you hated me”, the girl explained. “And at that time, I thought you’d never see me the same way you used to and I wouldn’t even have blamed you. I killed your best friend, for god’s sake. But still … the thought of you despising me so much, I- I just couldn’t bear it. And you have no clue, how fucking happy I was, when you told me you had missed me. Even if you were still distant. It was a start.”

Louis was stunned. He never would’ve thought, that he, a simple musician and lazy fighter would affect Clementine’s mind that much. Sure, he knew how much the girl cared about him, he shared the same amount, if not more, but this was before their relationship.

“You didn’t kill Marlon, AJ did”, he said, unable to figure out any other words.

“I’m responsible for him, so it makes no difference”, Clementine argued and lay down again. She was a bit embarrassed to be confessing her doubts and fears from that time.

“And just that is what made you cry?”, Louis asked, still in disbelief.

“No”, Clementine whispered. “In my dream you just exactly said that you hated me and that you’d never forgive me. You said it right into my face.”

“Clem...”, Louis pulled her into a hug, throwing one arm around her shoulder, letting her snuggle into his chest.

“I could never hate you”, he said honestly. His voice was muffled as he pressed a small kiss on Clementine’s head. “Not then. Not now. Not ever.”

Clementine sighed. She really had needed to hear him say that and mean it. Relieved she let herself sink more and more into his embrace, feeling the tiredness overcome her. She actually had wanted to stay awake with him, but this time she just couldn’t make it.

“Hey, Louis”, she muttered weakly. “I really _like_ like you.”  
With that she drifted back to sleep. And Louis continued to hold and watch over her.

“I love you, too”, he mumbled and eventually finally closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok.  
> I think this is the latest I've ever been, I really struggled with this topic.  
> I really didn't know what to write to it, but I hope you'll enjoy it, 
> 
> thanks for anyone who brings up the patience to wait for my updates lol


	12. Day 11: Drawing each other or ... Something you're not good at

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis prepared something special for his and Clementine's half-a-year anniversary

_**Something you're not good at** _

Louis made sure he cherished every moment with Clementine and made her feel special and loved.

When they’d been together for yet another month, he’d write another song for her or change the lyrics to a song she liked, by asking her beforehand. And every month they’d teach each other another activity they had enjoyed before the outbreak. Last month Clementine and him had played baseball, even though they both sucked at it … and playing baseball with only two people wasn’t that much fun either. However, now that their half-a-year anniversary came up, he had planned something… extra special.

With a little help of his friend Tennessee, he would make this anniversary the most normal one they had so far. And of course he would keep it a secret until Clementine returned from her exploring trip with Violet. Well, more or less unintentionally as Tenn had to drag him away from his girlfriend, so he wouldn’t spill the tea. But Louis just couldn’t help it, he was so exited.

At the moment he and the younger boy prepared the music room for the date. Therefore the piano had to be covered with a blanket and they needed all the art supplies they could get. Louis decided to sneak into the old luggage room, where they had stored the belongings of Sophie and Minnie, that Tenn didn’t want to keep, but which were too precious to just throw away.

“What are you doing?”, Louis jumped in surprise, as he heard a suspicious voice behind him. It was AJ. Of course, Louis was supposed to give him a task to do this morning, but he had forgotten about it. Now the little guy stood in front of him, arms crossed, eyebrows raised, looking at a way too paranoid Louis.

“Uh”, the young man started. “Hey, little dude! Sorry, I completely forgot to give you a task to do.”

“That’s alright”, AJ responded. “Maybe I can help you find whatever you’re looking for.” He smiled hopefully. AJ had always looked up to Louis. His easy ways and his music impressed the kid. He hadn’t met anyone like him in his entire life.

Louis knew, if he told AJ about his plan, he would ruin the surprise. Even if it wasn’t his intention, but when it was about Clementine, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

“No, no need to, kiddo. I just need to, uh, grab some stuff for… the-”, he thought for a moment. “the party!”

“Party?”, the young kid’s eyes began to glow. He loved parties, hadn’t had a lot of them though. “What party? When?” He began to jump up and down in excitement, which was a rare sight, as AJ always wanted to seem adulterous.

“It’s just a.. a summer party! On the court yard, tonight. You know, as, um, we should be happy we get to survive yet another summer. We should cherish them!”

Louis felt himself falling into an unfortunate situation. Now he had to plan a party as well. Though he could ask Ruby and Omar for help.

“What can I do? … Oh, I know! I could paint!” The small boy ran towards the luggage room, but Louis jumped in front of him.

“How about-”, he blurted. “you… uh, could ask Omar if he could cook something special and then help him with it!”

Man, Omar would be mad, when he’d find out a party was planned. The cook of the group hated surprises or anything spontaneous. Especially if that meant he would be in stress.

However, AJ seemed happy enough with his task and ran off immediately. Louis decided to care about the party later and quickly grabbed the art supplies to return to the “date room”.

And not a second too early, because the moment he had finished placing the pens and colors, Tenn came running in, announcing that Clementine was back from their trip. With a big smile on his face and a blindfold in his hands, he ran outside. His heart was pounding in excitement, he had never prepared something like this and was a little bit scared, that Clem wouldn’t be that into it.

“Hey, Clem!”, he shouted, when an exhausted looking Clementine stumbled through the gate. When she saw her boyfriend she smiled weakly.

“Happy half-a-year, Lou”, she mumbled and let herself fall right into his arms.

“Long day?”, the taller boy murmured into her hair. The girl nodded and started telling him, that the trip was anything but successful and the only thing they had found was a trench full of walkers, but far enough away.

“Well, if it helps”, Louis started. “I’ve prepared something that will definitely cheer you up!”

Behind Clementine, Violet appeared with a very accusing look on her face. She glared a Louis while mouthing: “A party? Are you kidding?”

Louis helplessly folded his hands in a praying manner, begging her to deal with this, as he didn’t want to get his date ruined. The blonde haired girl, who of course knew about Louis’ plans, rolled her eyes and shrugged, letting him know she’d come up for something. But Louis eventually would have to make up for it.

Meanwhile, Louis guided Clementine into the well decorated room, where Tenn was already waiting. When Louis released the blindfold, Clementine was more than confused, but also excited about what her boyfriend had prepared.

Tennessee coughed and formally folded his hands. “Welcome to our couple painting/drawing class, please take your seats.”

The girl laughed and looked between Louis and the young boy. “Really, guys? A painting class?”

“Well”, Louis shoved his girlfriend towards her seat in front of an old easel – and right across from his seat. “I thought we could do something normal for a change.”

Clementine gave him a ‘that’s what you call normal’ look, but didn’t object.

Again, Tenn coughed awkwardly and fetched a small note from his pocket, where he had wrote down what he wanted to say.

“Uh- Today we’re going to focus on portrays. Meaning, you are going to portray your significant other-”

“’Significant other’, _really,_ Tenn?”, Louis interrupted, but when he saw Tenn’s stressed out face, he apologized.

“Just.. just tell us what to do, okay?”

“...Right. Well, basically just look at each other and then draw what you see.” With that, the young boy left the room, relieved that he had played his part.

“Alright, angel, I’m gonna paint the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, just wait, you’re gonna be impressed!”, Louis grinned.

“You’re a dork”, Clementine chuckled. “Wait until you see _my_ drawing!”

Time went on after that with the two of them exchanging challenging comments and flirty glances. Finally, after half an hour both of their faces couldn’t be saying more. Clementine eyeing her work almost anxiously, while the boy basically admired his painting, like a well-known artist would.

“So?”, he asked and tried to get a glimpse of what was supposed to be his portrayal. But his girlfriend snatched the paper away from him.

“Yeah, I’m not finished yet”, she murmured. Louis laughed and tried again to grab the work.

“You’re lying”, he exclaimed and reached for the picture, but Clementine held it tightly to her chest. “How did _your_ picture turn out anyways?”, she scoffed, visibly embarrassed of her work. Her boyfriend smiled and turned his image around.

The girl was stunned.

What she saw in front of her eyes, was a perfect painted comic version of herself. Louis had painted her with his chair leg baseball bat “Chairles” tossed over her shoulder and a smug grin on her face, the background seemed like a sunset and a walker head was placed beside her foot. It looked amazing. Now, the girl wanted to hide her own drawing even more and squeezed it.

“Come on, Clem, it can’t be _that_ bad.”

“It is, believe me”, she argued. Eventually she gave him and turned it around. Louis didn’t mean to, but at that sight he busted out laughing.

“See? I told you it was bad”, Clementine pouted.

“It’s not bad”, Louis tried to get himself together. “it’s just … abstract.”

That wasn’t a lie. A stick man would’ve had more similarities with Louis than the thing what Clem created. A head, too small for two eyes to fit on, a shaky drawn body with stick arms and legs. Greasy hair was on point, though it seemed like it was drawn by a kid with anger issues. And the smile that “Louis” had on “face” could give you nightmares. After viewing it a second time, Louis laughed even harder. Eventually Clementine tossed it aside.

Louis quickly wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hair, still laughing.

“It’s okay Clem, you know why?”

Clementine didn’t feel like guessing.

“Because I finally found something you’re _not_ good at.”

She laughed and pinched his arm. In the end a painting course had been an incredibly adorable idea of him.

“So ...”, Louis said awkwardly after they had been standing in each others arms for a few minutes. “Now we gotta go to the party”

“What party?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, what happened here is:   
> final exams, writing blockade and another topic i didn't really know what I should (or could) write to that.  
> Anyways it probably contains a lot of grammar mistakes, but I hope you like it anyways ^^  
> I'll be updating more regulary now, cause I finally have time for it again :3


	13. Day 12: Lazy Day or... Louis's rebellion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis isn't feeling like working today. Or ever. But especially not today.

Louis’s POV

It’s already been one year.

One year full of raiders and walkers, new friends and traitors. We lost some of us, like Mitch or Tenn, we gained the trust of new allies from beyond the safe-zone. We fought, improved, survived. And now we made it into the next year to come.

Meaning: it was about fucking time for a break.

It was almost 12 pm, the sun was shining over the snow-covered courtyard and well, I was still in bed. From here I was able to see Violet on the watchtower, Omar and Willy discussing something and AJ running around out there as well. Clearly I wasn’t needed, so why should I disturb the rarely good organization of my friends?

Instead I leaned back and allowed the sun rays to caress my bare stomach. I closed my eyes and smiled. For once I didn’t have to worry about something or someone and was completely relaxed. That was, until my door was kicked down by a very grumpy looking Clementine. Not saying a word, she folded her arms and gave me a taunting glare. Immediately I was aware that I had forgotten about something, but I had no clue what it was. It was too soon for our anniversary and her birthday was in summer. So instead of going into defensive-mode, I put my arm around the empty pillow next to me and smirked suggestively:

“Good morning, beautiful. Wanna join me?”

I’m pretty sure, if I hadn’t been sitting 5 feet away, she would’ve punched me in the face the second I said that.

I took in her looks for a moment. It was ridiculous just how amazing she was. In and out. Even on a non-spectacular day like this, she had this confident, aspired glow. Ready to slay some walkers or march into a battle and with the “new leg” that AJ and I had built her (it was a chair leg, upgraded with tape and steel bars. Her kicks used to be good, now they were deadly)  she finally could go outside again and be an “actual help” like she called it. It was hard seeing her depressed, whenever the rest of us would go out and she had to stay behind, because it was too dangerous. Of course we assured her, that she was the person holding us together – which was true, but until she could walk again, I  could feel  her doubts.

H owever these mood falls were all gone now and she was more motivated than ever … which was kinda exhausting for me. I mean, let’s face it, I was never the most hard working guy in this group and Clementine knew that. But, since we had our boss back everyone was expected to work their best. Including me.

“ _But not today, darling”,_ I thought to myself. 

“Rise and shine, Louis!”

Clementine took a few steps forward, ready to snatch away my covers and pull me out of bed, but I was not having it.  Before she was able to grab my blanket, I put one arm around her waist and pulled her down to me. 

L aughing I kept her in a big hug, while she was trying to hit my back (or my shoulders, I’m not sure). Her fuzzy hair tickled my chest as she finally gave up on struggling and raised her head. For a minute we just looked into each other’s eyes. 

I wanted to stay like this forever.

Suddenly Clem’s face started flushing bright red. Oh, right. She was on top of me-

and I was only in my boxers. With an awkward laugh, she climbed off of me and lay down.

“You know, you can’t stay in bed forever”, she mumbled, face buried in the sheets.

“Well”, I stated unmoved. “I can try.” On that note Clementine hit me with my pillow, giggling.

Oh so that’s how we were playing now.

I took the pillow, which had landed flat on my face, and slammed it back at her. However, I failed at controlling my strength, so the pillow hit her full force and her head hit the wall behind her. It wasn’t a fatal hit, but she fell back down onto the bed laying still.

“Clem!”, I exclaimed dramatically and pulled her up by her shoulders. Her eyes were closed and her hair was all over the place. Suddenly I felt cold.

What if I hit her unconcious? Within a second I jumped out of the bed, Clementine in my arms and aimed for the door. But before I could reach it, I felt a sudden pain in my stomach. I gasped and dropped down to my knees.

Then I heard the angelic laugh of my girlfriend. She had kicked me in the stomach. Not too hard, believe me, I know what that would feel like, but enough to have me coughing.

“That’s abuse”, I protested. “Domestic abuse.”

Clementines laugh faded into a silent, loving smile. She knelt down beside me and poked my cheek.

“I’m sorry”, she said honestly. “But at least you’re out of bed now.”

I sighed and turned my head to look at her. Her eyes were shimmering with mischief, which was usually _my_ look. I smirked and kissed her briefly on the lips. The mischievous expression turned to surprise.

“What was that for?”, she asked, slightly blushing.

“I don’t know”, I replied, giggling. “it’s not like you deserved it. I should rather punish you, for forcing me to get up.”

“Hey, that’s mean”, she pouted, looking cute as hell. I restrained myself from kissing her again and lifted my head, giving her my famous puppy-eyes.

“Are you _sure_ we don’t wanna do a lazy day today?”

Clementine sighed and stroked my cheek. She didn’t say anything yet though.

“Pleaseee”, I tried to persuade her even more.

“Okay, okay”, she exclaimed. “Look, let’s compromise. We leave work be for _one_ day. _One._ We can paint, cook, anything we want. But we’re _not_ staying in bed all day, got it?”

Now that was a solution I could work with. Happily, I kissed her on the cheek first and then on the mouth again, cuddling up against her. I just suddenly felt all the love I had for her and I needed to show it. 

“One more thing”, she said sternly between kisses. “We’ll give the others a day of tomorrow, so it won’t be unfair. So prepare to work even harder then.”

I pretended I didn’t hear her.

:)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK.
> 
> So I sat a long while on this and don't get me started on the title. But well, I hope I'll be able to write some more these days.  
> \- Liz


End file.
